Paul Chain started out in the horror-shock band Death SS in 1977, a band that combined (doomish) metal and theatrics. In 1979 he formed Paul Chain Violet Theatre while he was still in Death SS. He later (1983 to be precise) left Death SS to concentrate on Paul Chain Violet Theatre, shortening the name to Paul Chain in 1987. In 2003, he announced the "artistic death" of Paul Chain, and reverted to his real name Paola Catena (or pseudonyms Paul Cat/P.C. Translate) to continue making experimental music.

The various Paul Chain incarnations released a large number of albums ranging from Traditional Doom (often coming close to very early Black Sabbath) to more experimental music, and gained massive underground fame in doing so. Amongst others, he has worked with Lee Dorrian (Cathedral) and Wino (St Vitus etc). All in all, Paul Chain is a musical genius and anybody into Traditional Doom should check out his work.

If you haven't figured this out yet, Paul Chain is a person and not a band. - in 2004 two compilation albums where released to put closure to Paul Chain's work and showcase his "artistic death". 'Red Light' is a split with the band Der Tod. 'Sangue' is a split with the band Eversor. The split with Sabotage is known as 'King Of The Dream' by some. The split with Internal Void is known as 'Full Moon Improvisation' by some. The 2001 demo titled 'Demos' is a cooperation between Wino and Paul.
Paul Chain's way of releasing things are far more advanced than most bands. He uses three different names for different kinds of releases:Paul Chain: This is his main area, playing traditional doom. (All releases not mentioned under any of the other names.)Paul Chain - The Improvisor: Features live improvisations and similar. ('Official Live Bootleg', 'Paul Chain - The Improvisor/Internal Void Split', 'Sign From Space', 'Master Of All Times' and 'Cosmic Wind'.)Paul Chain - Experimental Information: This is his experimental corner where he can quite frankly do whatever he wishes. Even leaving the metal world altogether at times. ('Paul Chain - Experimental Information/Fucktotum Split' and 'Container 47'.)
Until the 'Paul Chain/Sabotage Split', all the releases go under the name Paul Chain Violet Theatre ('Detaching From Satan', 'In The Darkness', 'Picture Disk' and 'Opera 4th'.)

He also has the container system. The container system is only used when there is a video or audio file which is unclosed on the CD.
List of containers:
Container 1: 'Paul Chain - Experimental Information/Fucktotum Split'
Container 3: 'Paul Chain - The Improvisor/Internal Void Split'
Container 4: 'Official Live Bootleg'
Container 11: 'Solitude Man'
Container 47: 'Container 47'
Container 168: 'Master Of All Times'
Container 3000: 'Sign From Space' and 'Cosmic Wind'.

Since many of the releases have at best very little in common with doom metal, we'll list those which are mainly not doom metal here:Experimental Ambient/Industrial:'Dies Irae''Emisphere''Master Of All Times''Opera Decima - The World Of The End''Violet Art Of Improvisation''Whited Sepulchres'